Poor Households Research Articles

Contributions of strategies to self-help groups’ participation in the sustainability of household livelihoods in Nyakach Sub-County, Kisumu County, Keny

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) adopt joint liability lending schemes to access the poor financial resources. Among the rural poor households, access to SHG micro-credit enables households acquire assets of social and economic importance. Members build social and economic capital as well benefit group synergy. Notwithstanding, poverty levels in some regions in Kenya, especially the Nyakach Sub-County remains high despite several SHGs. Approximately 800 registered SHGs were in Nyakach Sub-County by 2023 engaging in different social and economic endeavours. Food insecurity, poverty, environmental degradation, poor technology and general insecurity manifest in the sub county. It contrasts evidence of other developed countries across the globe, especially parts of Asia and Europe that self-help groups have positively influenced the overall development of society. The study explored the contributions of strategies to SHGs’ participation influence the livelihoods of households in Nyakach Sub County, Kenya. By using Questionnaires, gathered quantitative data from the respondents was analysed and presented in descriptive statistics while Pearson Correlation Analysis measured the relationship between the variables. The study found that strategies like education and entrepreneurial training, group lending and partnerships, networks and SHG-facilitated bookkeeping and business skills influenced the members’ active participation for enhanced livelihoods. Improving participation in SHGs was found to have a high and significant influence on the sustainability of the livelihood of members’ households. The study recommends to the government for development of legislative regulations on participation and protection of SHGs from operational and performance risks.

Prevalence and factors associated with contraceptive use among sexually active adolescent girls in 25 sub-Saharan African countries.

Various countries in sub-Saharan Africa have taken divergent steps toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goal's target of universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services by 2030, particularly among sexually active adolescent girls who are at risk of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. However, because contraceptive use among sexually active adolescents remains unexplored in sub-Saharan Africa, the researchers intended to examine the prevalence and factors associated with contraceptive use among adolescent girls who had been sexually active in the previous four weeks. Cross-sectional data from the most recent demographic and health surveys of 25 sub-Saharan African countries on 16,442 sexually active adolescent girls were analyzed. In the analyses, descriptive statistics and multivariate binary logistic regression were used. Analyses were statistically significant at p<0.05. The overall prevalence of contraceptive use was 25.4%. Chad had the lowest prevalence (4%), while Namibia had the highest (60.5%). Over 90% of the countries studied had less than 50% contraceptive use among sexually active adolescent girls. Adolescent girls withhigher education were eight times more likely than those with no formal education to use contraception (aOR = 7.97, 95% Cl = 6.26-9.45). When compared to single adolescent girls, married adolescent girls were 66% less likely to use contraceptives (aOR = 0.34, 95% Cl = 0.31-0.36). Adolescent girls with two or more children were seven times more likely than those without a child to use contraceptives (aOR = 6.91, 95% Cl = 5.58-8.56). It is established that there exists a low prevalence of contraceptive use among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa. As countries in the sub-region strive for universal access to reproductive health services, it is critical for the governments and civil societies in countries with low contraceptive use to strengthen mass education on the use of contraception among sexually active adolescents, with special emphasis on the less educated, married, and adolescent girls from poor households.

Impacts of Deforestation on Childhood Malaria Depend on Wealth and Vector Biology.

Ecosystem change can profoundly affect human well-being and health, including through changes in exposure to vector-borne diseases. Deforestation has increased human exposure to mosquito vectors and malaria risk in Africa, but there is little understanding of how socioeconomic and ecological factors influence the relationship between deforestation and malaria risk. We examined these interrelationships in six sub-Saharan African countries using demographic and health survey data linked to remotely sensed environmental variables for 11,746 children under 5years old. We found that the relationship between deforestation and malaria prevalence varies by wealth levels. Deforestation is associated with increased malaria prevalence in the poorest households, but there was not significantly increased malaria prevalence in the richest households, suggesting that deforestation has disproportionate negative health impacts on the poor. In poorer households, malaria prevalence was 27%-33% larger for one standard deviation increase in deforestation across urban and rural populations. Deforestation is also associated with increased malaria prevalence in regions where Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus are dominant vectors, but not in areas of Anopheles arabiensis. These findings indicate that deforestation is an important driver of malaria risk among the world's most vulnerable children, and its impact depends critically on often-overlooked social and biological factors. An in-depth understanding of the links between ecosystems and human health is crucial in designing conservation policies that benefit people and the environment.

Catastrophic Health Expenditures and Its Socio-Economic Consequences: A Case Study of Tehsil Ali Pur (Pakistan)

Health expenditures become catastrophic when they exceed a specific portion of the monthly income of the household. This study analyzed the socio-economic impact of catastrophic health expenditures in Tehsil Ali Pur, District Muzaffargarh (Pakistan). Data is collected through a semi-structured questionnaire from 270 households using a random sampling technique. The binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between health catastrophes and various other socio-economic variables. Study findings show that in the last three months, 61% of the targeted households faced catastrophic health expenditures. About 70% of the respondents confirmed that it had affected their daily consumption level, and 92% had lost their working days due to their health issues. Moreover, 74% of the respondents reported that they had managed health expenditures either by selling properties or by taking out loans. Results indicated that the probability of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) decreases by 0.007 with a one-unit increase in income. In contrast, it increases by 0.545, 0.00019, and 0.313 with the increase in household size, health care cost, and chronic illnesses, respectively. It is recommended that health insurance policies or other safety nets be implemented to save poor households from the trap of poverty.

The effects of environmental and non-environmental shocks on livelihoods and migration in Tanzania

Disruptive events and calamities can have major consequences for households in the predominantly agrarian communities of Eastern Africa. Here, we analyze the impacts of environmental and non-environmental shocks on migration in Tanzania using panel models and longitudinal data from the Tanzania National Panel Survey between 2008 and 2013. Shocks are defined as events that lead to losses in income, assets, or both. We find shocks resulting from changes in environmental conditions to be positively related to migration over time with more recent shocks exerting the strongest impact. According to our estimates, the probability of having a household member absent increases by 0.81% with each additional environmental shock encountered in the past 12 months. Different types of shocks have differential effects on migration with the strongest effects being observed for shocks with an immediate impact on household livelihoods, including through livestock losses and crop damage. Households in the sample are differently affected with rural, agriculturally dependent, and poor households without alternative income sources showing the strongest changes in their migration behavior in response to shocks. Our study adds important insights into the relationship between disruptive events and migration in Eastern Africa considering a broad time window and the compounding influence of different shock types. Our findings have a range of policy implications highlighting the need for a comprehensive perspective on household responses in times of distress that considers the interplay of different shock types as well as the role of context in shaping mobility patterns.

Consumption and Liquidity Shocks

AbstractWe study the response of consumption to anticipated and unanticipated liquidity gains using information on gifts (occasional and recurrent) and severance pay from the Italian Household Income and Wealth survey. Consistent with standard intertemporal consumption models, we find that unanticipated income shocks affect nondurable consumption while anticipated shocks have no effect. In the former case, the marginal propensity to consume is estimated to be around 7%. We find also that this consumption response is stronger for poor households (around 10%) and negligible for rich ones.

Evaluation of the factors associated with anemia in neonates admitted to the Neonatal Unit of Maiwand Teaching Hospital: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundWhile anemia has been associated with severe outcomes in neonates, there is a lack of scientific data regarding the associated factors of this problem in newborn babies of Afghanistan; hence, this study was undertaken to fill that gap. The objective of this study was to evaluate the factors associated with anemia in neonates who were admitted to the Neonatal Unit. MethodsThis analytic cross-sectional study with retrospective document review was conducted at the Neonatal Unit of the Maiwand Teaching Hospital in Kabul City, Afghanistan, in 2023. SPSS 26 and certain statistical methods were used to carry out the statistical analysis. ResultsOf the 220 newborns enrolled in this study, anemia occurred in 26.8% of them. Based on gestational age, the occurrence rates of neonatal anemia within groups of term and preterm neonates were 23% and 41.3%, respectively. The occurrence of neonatal anemia was found to be 60% in extremely low birth weight, 41.2% in very low birth weight, 27.2% in low-birth-weight neonates, and 23.9% in normal birth weight neonates. The neonates in the anemic group versus the non-anemic group had a mean birth weight of (2516.18 ± 898.79 vs 2749.62 ± 766.02 g, P = 0.03, 95%CI= -691_-9.9), a mean gestational age of (35.47 ± 3.7 vs 37.4 ± 2.5 w, P = 0.04, 95% CI= -1.6_ -0.9), a mean age of (11.41 ± 6.39 vs 9.9 ± 6.88 days, P = 0.35, 95%CI= -1.6_4.6), a mean CRP level of (13.6 ± 7.6 vs 9.8 ± 5.6 mg, P = 0.01, 95%CI= 0.8_7.8) and a mean hemoglobin level of (11.1 ± 1.7 vs 17.3 ± 2.5 g, P = 0.04, 95%CI=-7.4_-5.1). There was a significant association between neonatal anemia and preterm birth (OR=2.4, P = 0.04, 95%CI=0.08_0.5), male sex (OR=2.4, P = 0.04, 95%CI= 0.1_0.3), neonatal sepsis (OR=2.5, P = 0.01, 95%CI= 0.1_ 0.6), cesarean delivery (OR=3.4, P = 0.00, 95%CI=1.7_6.5), maternal age greater than 35 years (OR=2.9, P = 0.03, 95%CI=0.04_0.6), no iron intake by the mother during pregnancy (OR=1.9, P = 0.002, 95%CI=1.1_3.4), antepartum hemorrhage (OR=4.7, P = 0.00, 95%CI=1.3_10.3), and poor household income (OR=2.6, P = 0.03, 95%CI=0.03_0.2). ConclusionsNewborns admitted to the Neonatal Unit had a significant prevalence of neonatal anemia. The highest occurrence rates were seen within groups of preterm and extremely low-birth-weight newborn babies. Neonatal anemia was found to be associated with lower mean neonatal birth weight and gestational age, as well as with preterm birth, male sex, a higher CRP level, neonatal sepsis, older maternal age, cesarean delivery, no maternal iron consumption, antepartum hemorrhage, and a poor household income.

‘Equal’ Yet Poor: The ineffective protection of atypical workers under EU law

Statistical data show that on average almost one in every 12 workers in the EU is living in a poor household. This reality illustrates the gaps in the existing legal framework for protecting workers, particularly the most precarious ones, from poverty. The present contribution aims to identify some of the reasons for that. In so doing, we focus on atypical work —perceived as particularly problematic from an in-work poverty perspective — and specifically on the EU regulatory approach towards it, which heavily relies on the principle of equal treatment as a means to protect workers. The article engages with the question of whether the principle of equal treatment enshrined in the atypical work Directives is enough or, on the contrary, if it is failing in its declared intention to protect atypical workers. In its analysis as well as in its propositive part, this contribution builds on the findings of the research done in the H2020 Working Yet Poor research project. 1 We engage in a critical assessment of the current EU Directives on atypical work, highlighting existing gaps, shortcomings, and challenges. This assessment shows the limits of the Directives in general and the principle of equal treatment in particular in combating in-work poverty. We therefore advance some regulatory proposals to implement the EU Pillar of Social Rights and further enhance the current EU approach to atypical work by rendering it better equipped to prevent in-work poverty.

Economic vulnerabilities, mental health, and coping strategies among Tanzanian youth during COVID-19

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated struggles for youth living in poor households. Youth in rural Tanzania are particularly vulnerable given widespread poverty, lack of formal sector employment opportunities, and health risks. We examine influences of the pandemic on economic insecurity and mental health and explore the coping strategies employed by youth and their households.MethodsWe conducted mixed-method data collection with youth (N = 760 quantitative and N = 44 qualitative interviews) and households (n = 542) via mobile phone among a sub-set of a cohort from an on-going longitudinal sample in two rural regions in Tanzania. In addition to phone interviews, we collected data bi-weekly via SMS messaging. We present mixed-methods, descriptive analysis of the outcomes and longitudinally compare quantitative outcomes pre- and post-COVID-19, within the same individuals.ResultsAdverse economic impacts were most salient, and to cope, youth engaged in more labor and domestic chores. Compared to prior the COVID-19 pandemic, youth reported spending more time caring for elderly or sick household members and gathering firewood or nuts.ConclusionsThese findings underscore the potential opportunity to promote policies and programs which address risks youth face. Recommended measures include expansion and adaptation of social protection policies, strengthened food and nutrition surveillance and referral systems, and scaling up community-based mental health programming.

The role of microfinance in improving living standards: Evidence from Tunisia

AbstractThe main objective of this article is to investigate the effects of microfinance on poverty alleviation and improving living standards of poor households in Tunisia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes such topics in the Tunisian context. We employed Logistic regressions (both binomial and ordered logit) and Fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine the consequences of microfinance usage. Based on complexity theory, fsQCA contributes to the literature by generating a richer understanding of complex poverty phenomena. Overall, we find a positive and significant relationship between the amount of microcredit an individual receives and the improvement of the living standards of beneficiaries. The improvements mainly relate to increased income, improved health care, and more consistent attendance at school. This study shows the potential for microfinance to reduce poverty in Tunisia, especially in the period following the Arab spring.

Impoverishing effects of catastrophic health out-of-pocket payments in Nigeria

Out-of-Pocket (OOP) expenditure on healthcare is a major share of total healthcare expenditure in many developing countries, including Nigeria. Households in different income groups in Nigeria spent a larger share of income mainly on consumption and basic needs, hence, OOP expenditure for health constituted a burden with attendant effects on household well-being. Catastrophic headcount and Overshoot mean positive gap and concentration indexes were used to capture the incidence and severity of catastrophic health expenditure. The poverty headcount, poverty gap, normalized poverty gap, and its mean estimate were used to empirically identify the effect of catastrophic health expenditure using the national poverty line of ₦137,430 per year. Data on 22,110 households with non-zero expenditure were obtained from the 2018/2019 Nigeria Living Standard Survey. The incidence and severity of catastrophic health expenditure were higher for poorest and poor income quintiles using total consumption expenditure and total non-food expenditure at various catastrophic thresholds. The results indicated that about one million Nigerians were pushed into poverty due to OOP expenditure. Widening the coverage of the available social health insurance and implementation of alternative means of healthcare financing would minimize the financial burden on many poorest and poor households.

Cash for Coolers or Sustainable Lighting? Assessing Different Components of a Large-Scale Energy Efficiency Program in Mexico

In one of the largest demand-side energy efficiency programs at the time, the Mexican government supported more than 11 million, mostly low-income households in replacing their old light bulbs and appliances with more efficient models. Previous evaluations of this program focused exclusively on appliances, which made up almost 90 per cent of the total program cost, and found modest benefits in terms of energy savings. This study compares the respective effects of replacing light bulbs and appliances simultaneously in a single econometric framework, using data from nationally representative household surveys and a difference-in-differences approach which exploits geographical variation in treatment intensities. Despite using different sources and types of data, our results for the appliances replacement intervention are largely in line with the estimates of previous studies. In addition, we find that the impact on energy consumption (proxied by the amount paid for electricity) of replacing light bulbs was of comparable magnitude as that of replacing appliances, although the average cost per participating household was much smaller. Overall, our results suggest that low-cost investments that help poor households reduce their energy consumption for lighting can have high returns on energy efficiency in the residential sector.

Less than one in four mothers get quality intrapartum health care services in Ethiopia

Intrapartum care is a platform of comprehensive healthcare for pregnant women that is designed to improve birth outcomes for mother and child. However, complications during the intrapartum period continued to be the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age and newborns. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of quality of intrapartum care and its associated factors among mothers in Ethiopia. A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 4469 mothers who gave birth in the last 2 years. Quality of intrapartum care was analyzed based on the assessment of health facility delivery, skilled birth attendants and early initiations of breast-feeding. Stata version 14 software was used for data cleaning and analysis. A mixed effect multilevel logistic regression was conducted to determine factors associated with quality of intrapartum care. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and a P value of less than or equal to 0.05 was used for the identification of both individual and community level factors. Overall, the prevalence of quality intrapartum care in Ethiopia was 23.8% (95% CI 22.6, 25.13). Primary education (AOR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.14, 1.88), rich household class (AOR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.10, 1.98), history of ANC (AOR = 2.91, 95% CI = 2.18, 3.86), perceived distance to the health facility as not a big issue (AOR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.30, 2.05), urban residence (AOR = 2.97, 95% CI = 1.93, 5.09), Tigray region (AOR = 5.01, 95% CI = 1.25, 20.59), community level poverty (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.41, 0.97), and having 2–4 children (AOR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.56, 0.97) were significantly associated with quality of intrapartum care. The finding conclude that less than one in four mothers received good quality intrapartum care. In order to optimize the quality of intrapartum care, the government should empower women through extensive education. It is also recommended for the Ministry of Health to evaluate the health facilities and community health workers to increase coverage of ANC and provide financial assistance to rural residents and the poor household class.

The Effectiveness of Conditional Cash Transfer Program: A Case of Rural and Urban Beneficiaries in Philippines

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in the Philippines in terms of its effect on conditionality goods as reflected by food, health, and education expenditures of households from rural and urban areas that benefitted the program. The CCT program in the Philippines is known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that seeks to address the problem on poverty by improving the socioeconomic status of poor households through targeted investments in health and education. This study used the Propensity Score Matching methodology in estimating the average treatment effect on the treated to capture the effect of CCT on conditionality goods. The study finds that CCT has a significant effect on education for household beneficiaries in rural areas and has improved the quality of food consumed by household beneficiaries in urban areas. Also, a decreased in the per capita total expenditure and per capita food expenditure of the household beneficiaries is revealed in urban areas driven by their improved saving behavior. Thus, the CCT program, at some point, is effective in meeting its short-term goal, but it must be more targeted in order to improve its impact on other conditionality goods.

The impact of parental benefits on disadvantaged households

AbstractOver the past 25 years, the Government of Quebec (Canada) has introduced a number of relatively novel policies aimed at fighting poverty such as the Universal Child Care Program (UCCP) in 1997 and the Quebec Parental Insurance Program (QPIP) in 2006. Since its inception, the QPIP has provided a means‐tested supplementary benefits scheme for disadvantaged households. The scheme yields a well‐defined kink in the benefits schedule with respect to two entirely exogenous criteria. Using the QPIP administrative data files from 2006 to 2017, we estimate the causal impact of the supplemental benefits on leave duration and participation of poor households within a sharp Regression Kink Design (RKD) approach. Our results indicate that single mothers are relatively responsive to additional benefits. Conversely, partnered mothers are not found to respond to the supplemental benefits, irrespective of fathers’ own participation in the parental leave. The Canadian government is currently considering introducing a similar parental leave program. Our results may prove useful for the design of the program.

Paired assistance and poverty alleviation: Experience and evidence from China.

This paper used the micro panel data from 2016 to 2019 of 2031 registered poor households in B Town, W County, Lu'an City of Anhui Province in China to analyze the diversified patterns and poverty alleviation effect of paired assistance based on the PSM-DID model. The empirical results show that paired assistance provided by social forces can significantly contribute to the poverty alleviation of poor households, promoting the poverty alleviation rate by 7.8%, which can be concluded through sample matching and control of relevant variables. Furthermore, based on the subsample of poor households with social assistance, we found that external social assistance subject to paired assistance can significantly improve the poverty alleviation rate of poor households by 14.26%, mainly hung on their economic base and strength of poverty alleviation.

The Influence of Social Capital and Farmers’ Specific Factors on the Poverty of Rural Farm Households in Akwa Ibom, State, Nigeria

This study analyzed the effect of social capital and other relevant factors on poverty of farm households and identified constraints militating against effective social capital formation among poor rural farm households belonging to associations in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was utilized to choose 180 rural farm households within the research location. The FGT methodology was used to generate indices of poverty. Descriptive statistics, Tobit model and factor analytical procedures were employed to analyze the objectives of the study. The estimated model showed high degree of fitness, thus justifying the estimation method used. The results revealed that, the following social capitals: farm size acquired from the association, income derived from membership of association, number of visits of extension agents, interest amount paid on loan acquired from association, fertilizer, seeds, pesticides and farm land acquired from the association have a significant negative relationship with the poverty of rural farm households in the study area. By implication, increase in the stock of these social capitals by poor farm households would significantly enhance the reduction of poverty depth among them. Moreover, other factors which affected farm household poverty status were sex of household heads, age, household size, years of formal education, farm income and ownership of assets. The results also found 8 categories of constraints militating against effective social capital formation among poor rural farm households. The constraints categories are: leadership, management style and low income; financial constraint and unconcerned attitude of members towards group activities; executive characters; ineffective coordination and unfair distribution of benefits to members; lack of seriousness of members; poverty; illiteracy and incompetence as well as defaults and partiality. From the result, it is concluded that social capital accumulations reduce the probability of being poor. Based on the high percentage of poverty prevalence in the State, it is concluded that poverty is endemic in the rural areas of Akwa Ibom State and specifically among farm households. This study lends support to recent emphasis on investing in social capital as a major means of poverty reduction in the rural areas.

Factors associated with married women’s attitude toward intimate partner violence: A study on 20 low-and middle-income countries

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a global problem and has been reported to be significantly higher for women in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). The researchers analyzed Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data of married women in 20 LMICs to examine those most vulnerable to accepting IPV by investigating associated risk factors. The researchers revealed a higher level of acceptance of IPV among illiterate women from poorer households in remote areas. Using these findings, the authors provide insight into ensuring and enhancing the living standards of these vulnerable women by making education more readily accessible.

The distributional effects of CO[formula omitted] pricing at home and at the border on German income groups

While climate policy studies are widespread, fully fledged computable general equilibrium (CGE) model analyses of distributional policy effects are challenging because the required data and approaches are not directly available. To ease such distributional analyses, we provide a step-by-step “recipe” for disaggregating a country-specific representative consumer of a CGE model. Using this “recipe”, we implement German household survey data in a global CGE model by distinguishing three income groups of the German representative consumer. We find that the negative consumption effect of CO2 pricing is highest for the low-income group, whereas the negative income effect is highest for the high-income group and exceeds the consumption effect. The low-income group benefits most from (per capita-based redistribution of) carbon pricing revenues and receives social transfers such that poor households can be better off with such climate policies than without them. CO2 pricing of imports at the (EU) border slightly strengthens these distributional effects and is mainly beneficial for the low-income group. The geographic extension of emissions trading within a “climate club” leads to substantial efficiency gains that are beneficial for Germany and the EU.

Effect of the farmer term of trade and farmworkers wages on rural unemployment and poverty in Indonesia

This study aims to determine the determinants of the welfare of agricultural sector workers who come from poor households in rural areas. The exchange rate of farmers and the wages of farm laborers will affect the level of employment in the agricultural sector, which in turn will affect the level of rural poverty. The methodology used in this study uses a panel data regression model with a recursive equation model. The best model for unemployment estimation is the random effect model, while the best model for poverty estimation is the fixed effect model. The results showed that the daily wage of farm laborers had a significant negative effect on unemployment. This may be due to the fact that higher wages will increase the number of workers who are willing to work in the agricultural sector, so unemployment will fall. While the unemployment variable has a significant positive effect on the level of rural poverty. The practical implication of these research findings is that to reduce poverty in rural areas, efforts from the government are needed to increase the wages of farm laborers, as the government sets minimum wages in the formal sector. The higher daily wages of agricultural laborers will attract unemployed people in villages to work in the agricultural sector.